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Web 2.0, the second bubble, new media; call it what you will, we are smack dab in the middle of the second coming of the web. And like in any industry, there are bound to be hiccups, starts, and an unending stream of innovations pushing the technology behind it ever further along. We can look back on web trends that were as ridiculous as the old-timey videos of people's first attempt at flight were, such as under construction images, animated gifs, dancing babies, scrolling text, and flash splash screens and feel confident we've come a long way in just 15 or so years. However, a new set of trends are sure to have their own awkward place in web design history, and it's worth pointing out what a few of these trends might be.

1. "Skip to Content" links:

In an age when good usability is heralded as the tour de force of web design, one has to wonder if it hasn't been taken too far in some cases. I understand as much as anyone that the web is full of idiots who don't know their back buttons from their banzai buddies, but one can only hold these people's hands for so long before one wonders whether or not it's worth the effort. We are increasing our font sizes, writing friendlier and more personal instructions, and even trying to cut down on the number of links and the bulk of information on a given page.

But when we are going as far as adding a "skip to content" link that scrolls the page down no more than a few inches we have perhaps gone too far. If there's one bad misconception we overcame in the last 5 year it's the myth that people hate to scroll. The fact of the matter is, in our scroll-wheel saturated mouse market, people are very comfortable with scrolling, and they're well aware that the content is a few inches down.

2. "Glossy Surfaces"

I think most people can agree that glossy surfaces are probably the most recognizable new trend in web design today. Who knows who started it, but man did they ever open up the flood gates on this one. This trend has become so big that you've probably noticed it's started to influence print and television media. Personally, I still feel it has its place in design and will continue to for the foreseeable future, but it has come to the point where you just start to tire of it, especially when you start seeing reflections on surfaces that were never meant to be reflective.

If you want to recreate the web 2.0 look it seems all you need to do is throw some reflective surfaces all over your site with a smattering of gradients and starburst stamps and call it a day. I predict we will look back on this trend 5 years from now much in the same way we look back on beveled buttons from 2000.

3. "Quirky Slogans"

I know I'm going to catch hell for this one, but I have to come out and say it: I hate quirky slogans on web pages. There are designers out there I respect immensely that I have to just forgive when it comes to these literary abominations. If you want to come off as a flaming dork, there's no better way than coming up with a tag-line that's so sticky sweet it induces nausea. And yes, I'm aware that my "Just a Nutter Blog" slogan falls squarely in this category, but the pun is just too cheesy to pass up.

I have nothing against any of these sites - in fact I have immense respect for Electric Pulp. I just feel one runs the risk of sounding as though one's trying to hard to sound candid, when it usually comes off as corny.

4. Valid CSS/XHTML Badges

I'm as for web standards as the next guy, but I'm also a realist. As a web designer, the most important thing that should be on your mind is compatibility and functionality; does your site look the same in all browsers, does it do its job well in all environments for all users, etc. Taking the time to chisel away all the CSS and XTHML errors on W3C to me is of low priority, especially considering some frameworks such as Ruby on Rails generate code every now and than that is not valid.

The only people who really notice or care about these badges are other web designers who more often than not are going to be more interested in how the site looks than how valid it is. Really, these badges should be replaced with a "Works with IE6" badge since it's harder to pull that off than W3C validation in most cases.

5. Media Temple Logos

While there's nothing inherently wrong with displaying your web host's logo on your site, I feel it has gotten a bit out of hand, especially in the case of Media Temple. I should preface this by saying that I am hosted with Media Temple like many other sites. This may have started with a few high-design sites that were most likely getting something in return for displaying the now ubiquitous MT moniker, but it now seems to me that media temple is the only host that seems to be in existence on the web.

They do a good job hosting, but are by no means the final solution. The point I'm trying to make here is that slapping a Media Temple logo on your site, or a 9Rules logo for that matter doesn't add you to some sort of elite web designer's club. In the world of web development, you make a name for yourself by creating new trends, not by following existing ones. (It should be noted that 9Ruls has a partnership with Media Temple, and therefore the mt logo makes sense there).

6. Social bookmarking Buttons

This is the obvious choice, of course, because of the surge in social bookmarking and link aggregation, but it needs to get toned down a bit. It's my belief that if a reader truly likes an article enough they will submit it to their favorite social bookmarking site on their own. The only thing these buttons end up doing is flooding these bookmarking sites with content that's already popular to begin with. Popular blogs like engadget and techcrunch of sounded off in the past about the etiquette for blogging and social bookmarking, amounting to the edict "thou shalt not submit thine own content", but (and I realize this sounds like sour grapes) the fact that these sites have ot;digg this" buttons means they have a guaranteed reader base that will basically game social bookmarking sites.

Us little guys have to be pretty clever as a result when we write our content, and I appreciate the challenge as much as the next fella. But all sites, popular and up-and-coming, should really scale back the self promotion, at least in terms of these buttons. Besides, it mucks up the design and could potentially confuse users.

So there you have it: my picks for the most annoying and played out trends in web design for the last year (or so). I have a sneaking suspicion that these trends will either wane or evolve into more accessible and tasteful versions of themselves as time goes on. Sound off in the comments about what you find irritating about web design these days, and by all means, tear my site apart if you want.

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